The diagnostic test was not as daunting as I had first thought it would be. One thing that surprised me about the diagnostic test was that I did not feel rushed taking it. Although the passages were quite difficult to understand I ended up getting the majority of the questions right! To me the structure was quite similar to the ACT’s reading section, however the pieces of literature in the diagnostic test were denser and tougher to interpret. The prose was fairly easy to understand the first time I read through it but the poetry was a completely different story. I had to read the poems multiple times just to grasp the basic ideas behind them and answer the questions but I still did not feel like I ever truly understood them. I noticed that because the poems were short I could reread them over and over and still finish with plenty of time to spare. One thing I struggled with was understanding the complex vocabulary used in both the questions and the passages. Another difficult thing for me was identifying the types of poetry used. Miraculously I managed to get those questions right using the process of elimination but it is definitely a skill that needs a lot of work. Overall I have many things I need to improve on but taking this diagnostic test really boosted my confidence that I can conquer the AP English Literature and Composition Exam!
I'm so glad that taking the diagnostic left you feeling so confident! We will practice poetry a LOT, no worries. =) The best thing that you can do to improve on general adult vocab is read, read, read--my (gentle?) suggestion is at the top of the Spruz home page there is a tab called "You Should be Reading," which links to the RSS feeds from several sources of high-quality articles and stories chock-full of this kind of vocab.
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